'Filthy' kitchen found at Balti (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

'Filthy' kitchen found at Balti

The Swindon Balti in Gorse Hill Ref: 99497-20A CURRYHOUSE owner has owned up in court to running a restaurant with a dirty kitchen.

Malik Bukhsh, 53, the proprietor of the Swindon Balti in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill pleaded guilty to three charges relating to health standards at Swindon magistrates' court yesterday.

The case was brought by Swindon Council who uncovered the appalling conditions during a routine check.

Bukhsh, of Ferndale Road, admitted failing to keep his premises clean and in good repair, failing to keep items in contact with food clean and not avoiding risk of contamination.

He also pleaded guilty to failing to implement an effective monitoring procedure for food safety.

But Bukshs denied two further charges relating to failures in training his staff on hygiene and not getting rid of rubbish properly.

Because of the two not guilty pleas the case will now go to trial at Swindon magistrates' court later in the year.

Swindon Council has a batch of photographs showing the poor state of the kitchen which the Swindon Advertiser has seen.

Amongst the pictures, which will be presented at the trial, are images showing various parts of the curryhouse kitchen covered in food and mould. All five charges date back to December 8, 2004 and after the brief hearing Bukhsh insisted his kitchen is now clean.

He said: "I have been there (at the Swindon Balti) for five or six years and we have never had any problems.

"They came on a day when my fridge was broken. We were going to open at 5pm and the woman came about a quarter of an hour before that and looked through the kitchen.

"There was some food that I was going to throw in the bin and I put it in the bin and she got it out and said we were going to serve it.

"I have been in this industry all my life and I have had no problems.

"I'm still there (at the Swindon Balti) and it's clean, it's fine.

"I have got a lot of experience with food and I know about hygiene.

"It will all come out in court. My kitchen is clean. I am still there and we have no complaints."

In 2002 the Swindon Balti was one of 11 out of the town's 32 curry restaurants that entered the council's Swindon Curry Chef of the year award.

But the restaurant failed to impress the judges of the competition, organised by the Environmental Health department.

Bukhsh will be back at Swindon Magistrates' Court at 9.45am on November 30.

Gareth Bethell